AZ Supreme Court refuses to hear Thomas’ appeals

Former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas will not get a day before the Arizona Supreme Court.The Court without comment refused to hear a set of appeals that Thomas, who is running for attorney general, made to overturn rulings he lost involving a State Bar ethics investigation.

Thomas’ spokesman, Jason Rose, sent a written statement that said the decision allowed “a political witch hunt to continue.

“If these games continue we’ll have no choice but to right the wrongs in federal court,” the statement read.

In March, the State Bar of Arizona opened an investigation into eight complaints alleging Thomas and two of his former deputy county attorneys committed several ethics violations during a two-year power struggle with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and Maricopa County Superior Court.

The Supreme Court chose John Gleason, a Colorado investigator, to conduct the probe and former Supreme Court Justice Charles Jones to serve as the probable cause panelist.

Thomas and former deputies Rachel Alexander and Lisa Aubuchon asked Jones to either dismiss or stay the investigation on the grounds that it was illegally initiated and they hadn’t been formally notified of the allegations.

They also asked Jones to give their lawyers immunity and to repudiate threats of retaliation for siding with Thomas that Thomas says the State Bar made against all lawyers in the state. Jones originally ruled against Thomas, Alexander and Aubuchon on May 28.

In a separate matter, the court also refused to hear Thomas’ request to grant him a time extension to respond to the allegations so he could shop for a new lawyer.